Mother
by AHeartForStories
Summary: It has never been explained exactly how Shadow the Hedgehog got into being. Some say he was created from an alien, others say from normal hedgehog DNA. This is my version of how he was created.
1. The Origin

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here!_

_This story came to me out of nowhere. I was reading something on the Smosh website about Disney character's parents when I came up with the idea for this story. I like it and really wanted to write it. This won't be a long story, so you won't have to worry about me putting "Married" on hold. I will continue to write that story and try to upload the next chapter. It's not like this story will be countless of chapters long. Maybe between the three to five chapters._

_Anyway, I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 1 - The Origin**

It was quiet and dark aboard the Space Colony Ark. It's steel and bland walls made the place look lonely and deserted. Although that was far from reality.

The colony was filled with people. Both humans and mobians. They were scientists and soldiers between the ages of 20 and 60 years old. Most of them having brought their families to stay here, so far away from the beautiful planet they once lived on.

One of these scientists was the famous Gerald Robotnik, a bald man with a greying mustache. He had kind eyes that were hidden by a pair of dark thick glasses and wore a clean white lab coat.

He swiftly made his way over the steel floor as he walked down the hallway. Just like everyday, he was headed towards his office, a room that existed out of a laboratorium and an office.

The lights flickered on as he walked past and pushed the few buttons that were littered across the hallways. It was quiet in the many rooms he passed by. He was usually the first to get up and get to work. His colleagues came later then him, not that that it took all that long for them to come.

Gerald came to a stop in front of a grey metal door. He typed a code in the numeric keypad and the door opened, the keypad beeping in approval of recieving the right password. The elderly man walked inside the darkness of his laboratory. He looked around in the dark for a moment or two before turning the light switch on.

When the lights above him came to life, he was met with the familiar sight of his laboratory and office in the same state he had left it the day before. He had to admit this place was a bit of a mess as he was too tired to tidy the room before he left the day before, but he knew some his colleagues were far worse at keeping their working place clean.

Gerald's eyes fell on his computer that stood on top of his desk. He walked over to it and sat down on the chair and turned the system on. It was a habit he followed every morning. The first thing he would do was to get on his computer and check his many files and documents he had stored in the system.

As he waited for the system to tell him when it was done loading everything, his eyes wandered off of the screen and moved to the picture frame that stood on top of his desk. In the photograph stood a woman and a man. The man in the picture was his youngest son and the woman was his daughter-in-law. They were embracing her swollen belly.

The elderly man couldn't help but smile at the happy sight. This picture was taken several months ago. His daughter-in-law had been seven months pregnant at the time it was taken. Their child has been born by now. It was a little girl who they had named Maria.

She was a happy child, but unfortnatly, that wouldn't last.

A few weeks ago, Maria was diagnosed with a fatal disease. One that could claim her life before she even got to experience all the good life had to offer her. Gerald was determined to save his little granddaughter from such a sad fate and he was willing to do whatever it takes to achieve goal.

So when he recieved the opportunity he had been waiting for, he took it without thinking of the possible consequences.

It was a day or two after they had recieved the news. The elderly scientist had been working in his old office on Mobius when he welcomed an unexpected visitor. It was the Commander of the military base named G.U.N, which was short for the 'Guardian Units of Nations'. But even though they carried that name, their bad reputation gave us the impression that they were only out for themselves.

That bad reputation was caused by their current Commander.

He was Commander Tower. A greying man with brown eyes that wore an unnaturally cold look. He had come to tell Gerald that he heard the news of his granddaughter and wanted to propose something to him. The Commander had told him that he felt sorry for all these people who suffered a fatal disease and wanted Gerald to created someone that could be the cure to all known diseases.

Gerald knew that he should've been suspicious when the Commander specifically wanted a person to be created instead of normal vaccine, but he was so desperate to save Maria, he had agreed to it without thinking about it.

Not too long after the elderly man and his young granddaughter came to live here onboard the Ark. It had been three months since then. Gerald had been working as hard as he could every single day to create the project the Commander wanted.

And he knew he was close to finishing it.

He knew that, if this cure had to be a person, he would need to do something with the power Chaos Control. The body of a human being couldn't handle this kind of energy. But a mobian on the other hand... The scientist knew he needed a mobian if he wanted to succeed in his project, but he couldn't use a real person. Just like humans, mobians had rights and couldn't be treated like filth just for the sake of finding a cure that might not even exist.

So Gerald resorted to creating a mobian with his own two hands. It was going to be difficult, but he was going to do what it takes. He had already made a blueprint of the mobian's anatomy and figured out how to get his or her body filled with Chaos energy. Now all he needed to do was to create the mobian in question.

The elderly scientist pushed himself up from his seat and walked away from his desk. He approached a metal table with roll of paper in his hand. He unrolled the paper on top of the table and looked at the blueprint he had created.

The building plan showed the anatomy of a female mobian hedgehog. He didn't know why he had choose for it to be female, he had to choose a gender and just decided that this was the ony he would create. The Commander didn't ask for a specific gender, after all. Anything was fine in his eyes.

Gerald took a chair and pulled it up behind him so he could sit down at the metal examination table. He studied the blue print closely once more for any possible flaws in the plan before he began to create something that nobody else had ever created before him. An Artificial Lifeform.


	2. The Project

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the second chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I don't know if it was obvious or not, but the Commander from the previous chapter wasn't the one from in the games and the comics. It's actually supposed to be his father. The Commander from now was still a kid back then, after all._

_I would like to thank 'TheVideoGamer' for reviewing the previous chapter. I really appreciate it. ^^_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 2 - The Project**

A sigh of frustration left the elderly man as he checked every single little detail on the blueprint for what seemed like the thousandth time. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. Everything was perfect! Why didn't it work?! Why wouldn't this damn project live?!

Gerald slumped back against his chair and rubbed in his tired eyes from behind his dark glasses. He had been here for days without getting any sleep, checking over and over again to see if he had missed anything.

His eyes shifted and came to rest on the examination table in front of him. On it was the same white sheet from before. Only this time, it was covering something important. It looked like the figure of a person. A mobian to be exact.

The white sheet was pulled back enough to reveal the mobian. It was a female mobian hedgehog. He didn't know why he had chosen her species to be a hedgehog. It just kind of happened.

Gerald kept in mind that this was a woman who was lying here in front of him and made sure to respect her need for privacy by covering her from the chest down, even though she wasn't awake yet and possibly couldn't even understand the need to cover the most intimate parts of her body.

But it was still enough to show what she looked like. She was an ebony hedgehog with a tan muzzle and upturned quills. Her body had nice curves and she was slender. Her chest wasn't too big and not to small either. She had average sized breasts, nothing to special, but nothing to be ignored either.

Gerald watched as her chest raised and lowered. His eyes got a sad look. Her moving chest was a sign that she was breathing and that in turn was a sign that she was alive. But she wouldn't wake up.

The door to his laboratory opened, making the old scientist jump in his chair as he hadn't expected any visitors today. He looked up to the door and saw the intimidating form of the G.U.N Commander standing in the doorway. His eyes held that same cold glint.

"Commander Tower." Gerald said and stood up from his seat as he acknowledged the man in front of him.

"Professor Robotnik." The man responded. Neither one of the two men had a friendly tone in his voice as they spoke. It was obvious they didn't even like the very sight eachother.

The Commander's eyes shifted and came to rest on the sleeping form of the mobian on top of the table. His cold eyes briefly got a disdainful glint. Gerald noticed the look and laid a hand on the shoulder of his creation in a protective manner as if trying to reassure her that everything would be okay.

"Is this the project?" The Commander asked and walked closer to the examination table. He didn't seem all that impressed. Gerald simply nodded. He didn't feel like going into detail about this hedgehog's creation.

"Will it meet up to our demands?" He asked.

"She. And yes, I am certain that she will be able to give us the cure we have been looking for. Although I don't see why we have to use a person for this." The scientist said, correcting the military officer about his hedgehog's gender and questioning the need to create a person instead of liquid or powder as vaccine.

"Yes, the cure. I hope you are right, Robotnik. You don't know what might happen if this project were to fail. Don't let us down, Professor." The Commander said, completely ignoring the subtile hint and left the room.

The old man sighed in relief and sat back down on his chair. Their occasional conversations were usually heated, but this time it stayed civil. That was for the best. It would hurt the Commander's reputation, it wouldn't be good for the professor's health and it certainly wouldn't be good for the project herself.

The man often questioned why he kept working for him. But the small form that appeared next in the doorway when Commander Tower left, reminded him why he was going so far to reach his purpose.

"Maria." Gerald said with a smile when he recognised the little girl timidly hiding herself behind the door frame. The girl saw her grandfather smile and shot him a youthful one back before running over to him as she deemed it safe to enter. There were some days that she wasn't allowed inside because her grandfather was too busy with his project. But she knew today wasn't one of those days.

"Grandpa!" The little girl yelled and jumped up on his lap and wrapped her short arms around his neck. Gerald smiled as he wrapped his arms around the young girl and pulled her into an embrace.

The hug took a while before either of the two felt like letting go. Maria's father had a job back on Mobius he couldn't drop, so her parents stayed down on the planet while their daughter grew up without them here on the Space Colony Ark. But they made sure to visit as soon as they could. They came over and stayed every vacation and always made sure to get two weeks off from work whenever it was their daughter's birthday.

But even though her parents weren't around that much, Maria didn't miss them as much as she should. She was way too excited to meet this hedgehog her grandfather was looking after. She knew she was sick and she had been told that this hedgehog could be her friend and could cure her of her fatal illness.

Maria didn't care all that much about the cure part. With her young 4 Year old mind, she found it more important to have a new friend.

There weren't all that many kids around on Ark. There was this one kid who she played with sometimes. He was the Commander's son, Abraham Tower. Maria didn't know if she considerate him a friend. She would like to, but the Commander didn't like the two of them playing together just because she was Gerald's granddaughter.

"Will she be okay?" Maria asked and let her eyes glance over the female hedgehog lying on the examination table before settling back on the elderly man.

"Yes, she will." Gerald answered. He felt horrible for lying to his granddaughter, but he honestly didn't know if his project would be alright or not. Maria noticed her grandfather's lie as he hadn't been all the convincing, but she didn't question it. She felt like it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Out of nowhere a deafening alarm resonated through the halls. Maria and Gerald looked around, confused of what was happening and what was going to happen. The old scientist stood up from his seat and placed his granddaughter back on the floor. He hurried over to the door and looked out into the hallway.

There were colleagues of him running down the hallway. They were getting to the shuttles to try and escape to the safety of the planet. Gerald stopped one of them and told them to wait. The scientist, a brown haired woman in her 30's, watched him nervously as she wanted nothing more than to follow the others to safety.

"Maria." Gerald said and went to his knees in front of her and took her shoulders.

"You need to follow this woman and get to the shuttles okay? If you get back on Mobius, she will help you find your parents." He said. Maria was scared. She didn't want to leave her grandfather alone, but she knew she couldn't disobey him either. So she nodded.

"Come on." The woman said and took the blonde girl in her arms before running down the hall. Gerald watched them go before he went back inside his laboratory.

His eyes fell on the female mobian asleep on the table. He needed to get her out aswell. He couldn't possibly leave her here to fend for herself. Gerald walked up to the table. He was contemplating how to get her out unnoticed when the door suddenly closed and locked behind him.

Suddenly an ominous feeling overcame his heart and mind. He felt like he wasn't alone in this room. He could feel there was somebody else besides him and his creation.

A chill ran down his spine as Gerald could feel this person's eyes watch him. The lights had turned of on their own, making him unable to see as good as he wanted to. After finding the courage who joined him in the room, Gerald slowly looked up to the darker part of the room.

He jumped back, startled as he saw three red eyes shining through the darkness. They looked evil. He wanted nothing more than to run away, but he knew he couldn't leave her.

So here he was. Defenseless in a locked room with an unknown being.


	3. The Father

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would like to thank 'TheVideoGamer' for reviewing the previous chapter. I'm really grateful. ^^_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 3 - The Father**

"Who...Who are you?" The old man asked, his voice was soft and shaky as he spoke. The three eyes narrowed lightly as if understanding what this human had asked and feeling insulted by it.

"My name is Black Doom, leader of the Black Arms." A voice said. It sounded deep and threatening. Gerald's want to run grew, but his body was frozen in place.

"I came here for a proposition." The booming voice said. If it wasn't for the three eyes, Gerald would've thought the voice didn't have an owner and existed on it's own.

It took a while before the man finally found the courage to speak again.

"A p-proposition?" He repeated with a soft voice. What was it with people asking him to make a deal? He could understand that the Commander was after him since he was a famed scientist, but even beings from another planet? That was absolutely ridiculous in his eyes.

"Yes. I have been watching you for a while now. And I have decided that I will help you in your quest for a cure, but I want but one thing in return." The voice said.

As his eyes got used to the darkness, the scientist could've sworn this large oddly dressed being was floating a couple of feet off of the ground and had these three horns sprouting from it's head.

He was glad this room wasn't bathing in light and didn't allow him to see this otherworldly being completely. He didn't like what he could make out so far.

"And what is it that you want?" Gerald asked. This time he spoke a little louder as he slowly calmed himself down. There was no use in panicking now. Especially when this unidentified creature could help his project live and in turn save his young granddaughter.

"I can't stay here for much longer, but I will return in fifty years time and when I do, I want your experiment to deliver me the seven Chaos Emeralds." The being, or alien as Gerald had decided it should be called, said.

The human scientist was taken back by it's answer. He knew that what the alien leader wanted would've been something big, but he still wouldn't have thought that the Chaos Emeralds would be involved. Those things held incredible amounts of power, he couldn't possibly give them to this being. Even if at the cost of his granddaughter and experiment's life.

Right?

But unfortunatly, Gerald's decision was already made.

"Alright." He answered. Of course, he wasn't willing to actually give this being the seven powerful Chaos Emeralds, but he had to agree if he wanted to succeed in curing his granddaughter.

The trio of eyes narrowed in satisfaction upon hearing his answer.

"Good." His slow, but intimidating voice said.

His large hand moved and pulled something from his dark robe. It seemed like a tube made out of glass. In it was some kind of liquid. It was dark red and thick. It looked like blood. Gerald stared at it for a while before realising that the alien was offering him this tube and carefully took it into his own two hands.

His eyes were glued to the item that now rested in his hands. He watched it like it could burn through his flesh and bone like acid at any moment if he wasn't careful.

"Use my DNA and mix it with her's. Soon you'll see that she will wake up. Use my blood carefully. I don't want a single drop to go to waste." Black Doom said before he faded away and dissapeared without leaving a trace he ever existed.

The elderly man visibly relaxed when the alien leader dissapeared, leaving him alone with his project.

A hand came to lay on his head as he felt a bit light headed all of a sudden. He felt exhausted. He felt drained. He longed for his bed and for some sleep.

He looked back at the part of the room in which the alien used to stand. Except for the glass tube in his hand, there wasn't a single sign of it being there. If it wasn't for the item, Gerald would've thought he had just officially lost his mind.

He pushed himself away from the table he had been using to hold himself up with and walked to the other side of the metal furniture and towards the counter. He opened the drawers and searched for a needle. When he found one, he took the syringe and took a bit of the thick blood in the tube.

The scientist turned towards the metal examination table and gently took the sleeping young woman's arm. He searched for a vein through her thick ebony fur and injected the strange liquid into her bloodstream.

Exhausted and desperate, Gerald Robotnik dropped down on his chair and held her slender hand in both of his own. He hoped that this would help her live and hoped that he had not just made the worst mistake in his life.

Hours passed by. G.U.N soldiers had searched the whole Ark, but found nothing that could've sat off the alarm. The only one who knew who had intruded the colony, was Gerald. But he kept it a secret. He knew no one but himself should know the truth. He wouldn't want to see how Commander Tower were to react upon finding out an alien had been in their presence.

He couldn't imagine what the consequences would be for him and his sleeping creation. Or for his poor granddaughter, Maria.

'Yes, it's better to keep this to myself.' The elderly scientist mentally decided.

Even after all these hours, he had not left her side. He was still sitting here, holding her hand as he waited for any change. So far there was none.

During these past hours, a few people had come to check up on him. One of those people being Maria, that young woman from before and a soldier, who was ordered by the Commander to see if he was still working for him.

But they left him alone as soon as they noticed that he wasn't up for a chat. He was to shocked by the earlier alien encounter and he was too focused on the hedgehog to even notice anyone visiting him. Not to mention that his exhaustion was clouding his mind.

A sound. A tiny whine broke the silence.

If he was a mobian, Gerald's ears would've perked upon hearing it. His head, that had been hanging low as he had been on the edge of falling asleep, shot up and looked at the mobian hedgehog sleeping on top of the examination table.

He jumped up from his chair and stood over the metal table to get a good look at his creaton.

He watched as she pulled a light grimace, her body tensing as if she tried to wake up from a long deep sleep. Gerald watched in wonder as his creation was finally waking up after months of lying on that table without a single sign of ever waking up and taking part in this world.

After what seemed an eternity, the hedgehog finally opened her eyes, revealing a pair of deep crimson eyes.


	4. Welcome Home

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would like to thank 'TheVideoGamer' for reviewing onc emore. ^^ I really appreciate it that you post a review with every chapter I upload. I really look forward to your review everytime I post a chapter. ^^_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 4 - Welcome Home**

As her eyes opened, Gerald couldn't help himself and stared in shock at the deep crimson eyes that stared back at him. Despite the colour that made her seem evil, her eyes shone of pure curiosity and innocence.

The older man slowly began to smile. The hedgehog kept looking up to him in confusion, not knowing what to do or what to feel.

"My name is Gerald. I am the one who brought you into this world." The scientist said with an excited smile on his lips. He felt a bit silly talking to her. He didn't even know if she could understand a word he was saying!

"Gerald."

It was soft, but it definitely came from her mouth.

Gerald couldn't believe his ears.

She was talking! She could understand him!

His excitement grew with the second.

"Gerald?"

"Yes, that's me!" The said human scientist responded. He noticed that his creation was trying to sit up, but the control over her body wasn't as good as it should be yet. So he wrapped his hands around her upperarms and helped her sit up upon the examination table.

When she sat up straight, she kept looking at him. Her eyes held sadness as she was confused about practically everything and had yet to find an answer.

"Don't worry, You'll learn everything that you need to know as time passes. For now, I can tell you that we are now onboard the Space Colony Ark. You have been brought into this world to save my granddaughter." Gerald explained.

The hedgehog stayed silent. She was busy processing the information she had just recieved. Even though she had just technically been born, she knew what her creator's words meant. She now knew where she was and why she was here, but that was about it. Although, the little bit of information was able to comfort her a little.

"She's awake!" A young voice chirped.

The two adults looked over to the door and saw a young girl standing there. She wore a happy smile. She was excited to see that her new friend had finally woken up.

"Maria. Why don't you come and meet her?" Gerald said, raising the sheet as it had lowered when the ebony hedgehog tried to sit up and didn't cover her chest anymore. Even though she was covered with fur and it didn't matter all that much for a mobian, it was diffirent with humans. Covering her chest was more for the sake of morality than anything else.

His granddaughter didn't waste a second to ran up to the table. She used the chair to get up on top of it and wrapped her arms around the mobian's neck.

The experiment was surprised to recieve such a tight hug out of nowhere like this. She returned the embrace as a normal reaction. She didn't know why the girl hugged her, but she quickly came to the conclusion that this was completely normal for a child to do and didn't see anything wrong with the embrace anymore.

"My name's Maria!" The girl said as she pulled away from the hug and dropped onto her new friend's lap.

"Maria?" She repeated and looked at her creator to see if she said it correctly. Gerald nodded in approvement. He should probably be concerned that his creation had only spoken three words so far, each time a repeat from what somebody else had said, but he figured that she was only paying attention to the important part. Like their names.

Maria threw her arms around the hedgehog's neck again. She had waited for so long for her to wake up and she was happy when she finally did. The experiment couldn't find anything better to do than to hug her back. But it didn't take long before they had to pull away.

"So it's finally awake?" A deep voice said.

The three of them looked over at the door to see the one and only Commander Tower standing in the doorway. Just like always, his eyes didn't show even a small glint of warmth. And when he saw professor Robotnik's experiment finally up and awake, he didn't seemed to be impressed or interested. He seemed more sceptical at the fact that a female mobian could ever meet up to his wishes.

The ebony's ears bent back and flattened against her skull. Her grip on Maria tightened as her instincts immediatly knew this old guy meant trouble. Not that you needed any sort of instincts to come to that conclusion. Not with him.

The Commander's eyes narrowed when he heard a soft growl. Maria and Gerald could hear it too and they knew it came from deep inside the ebony's throat, but they didn't react to it. They knew who it was directed to, so they had nothing to worry about.

The Commander decided to ignore it and approached the trio anyway. The hedgehog looked at him in anger. her instincts were practically screaming that this guy was not good to have around.

"Can it do anything?" Tower asked.

"She. And yes, she is fully capable of speaking and moving." Gerald answered. His brows furrowed a little when he noticed that Tower was calling his experiment an 'it' again. He didn't like it. Especially since this was a young woman they were talking about and not an it.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Make it do something. Prove it to me that she is intelligent enough to speak and not just a waste of time." He demanded.

Understanding what she needed to do, the hedgehog let go of the girl and let her sit on the metal table while she herself swung her legs over the edge. She slowly lowered herself until her feet touched the steel floor and was surprised just how cold it felt.

"What do you want me to do?" Her gentle voice said, wearing a serious look in her expression, not caring that she was standing in the middle of the room with the sheet around her. The Commander looked at her in shock. He certainly had not expected this 'brainless' experiment to actually speak. He had not expected her to do anything at all.

Gerald was amused by the expression Tower wore. Nothing seemed more pleasing to him than to see Tower wear such a shocked expression when it seemed like nothing could faze this guy.

"Huh... Yes... Good. I'll see you later." The Commander said and quickly turned around and left the room. He didn't know how to take this, so he found that it was better to leave than to stay much longer.

Gerald didn't know if he should be glad or worried when the other left so suddenly. But he decided not to pay any attention to it. What was more important to him now was his creation and her progress.

The hedgehog sighed and leant back against the table with a hand against her head. She was already exhausted from her first hour alive.

"You need to rest. I'll see to it that you'll be left alone so you can recover your energy again." Gerald said while she crawled back on table and curled up in the sheet. She was so tired all of a sudden. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the surface.

"Come, Maria, it's better that we leave her here for a while. When she's had some sleep I'm sure she would like a tour around the Ark. But for now, we'll let her rest." Maria's grandfather said. The blonde girl jumped off of the table and took her grandfather's hand before following him out of the room. Gerald turned off the light and closed the door, automaticly locking it tight and leaving the young woman on her own in the dark laboratory.


	5. The Cure

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 5 - The Cure**

The scientist was proud of his creation. She was much more intelligent than anyone had expected her to be. She had a large vocabulary, easily learned how to read and write and it didn't take her long to learn the most basic things.

His hedgehog had baffled himself and many other scientists who wanted to see if she was really as intelligent as the rumors told. Of course, she passed all the tests with flying colours. She hardly needed to try.

But with all of that intelligence, came a wonderful personality. She was a civilized young woman. Timid and shy, but knew how to defend herself when she needed to. She didn't have a temper. There seemed to be no end to her patience.

Even though it seemed like everything was alright and she was perfectly healthy just like anyone else, Gerald still needed to follow her up before he knew for sure that there wasn't something wrong with her.

It had been a few weeks ago since she had woken up. Every week, Gerald would perform a fysical examination.

Today was another one of those fysical examinations.

The hedgehog was sitting on top of the metal table that had practically become her bed. Her legs were swinging back and forth over the edge. Gerald was sitting at his desk, typing some information about his project in her file. One of those things he was adding, was the change he had discovered in her DNA.

The blood this 'Black Doom' person had given, had managed to partially change her DNA. It wasn't just that of a hedgehog's anymore. It was now hedgehog and partially unknown, which Gerald could only guess was of this race called the 'Black Arms'. Something was worrying him. But he needed more time to investigate just what it was.

"You're free to go. You can ask Maria for a tour if you want. She would be more than happy to assist you." Gerald said, not taking his eyes off of the computer screen. His voice sounded strict and he wore a serious expression. It was because he had been focusing on his work too much. He wanted to sort this out quickly.

Knowing that he needed some peace and quiet, the ebony hedgehog silently jumped off of the examination table and walked out into the hallway. She walked down the hallway in search of Maria.

She got a few strange looks from other scientists, but it wasn't because she walked around with alone a coat of fur to cover her, she was wearing a short hospital robe now. She would've worn something else, likes the clothes she saw the people around her wear, but they only had this hospital robe to give her. And after she had gotten used to the thing, it wasn't all that uncomfortable anymore.

Not that the looks bothered her. She was more concentrated on trying to find Maria.

She knew the little girl had to be somewhere. Maybe she was playing somewhere with the other kids? She decided that would be the first place she would look.

She didn't get that far.

She heard laughing and saw the blonde haired girl up ahead. She was playing with a boy with two diffirent eye colours. The ebony didn't see anything wrong with the boy's eye colour. She herself didn't have a normal eye colour either.

"Maria!" She called the girl's name.

The said human girl looked away from her friend and looked back at the newest edition to her small circle of friends. Maria smiled and ran over to her.

"Hi! Want to play with me and Abraham?" Maria asked when she came to a stop in front of the hedgehog.

"I would love to, but unfortunatly I think I look a bit too old to play." She answered. Maria briefly shot her a dissapointed look. She knew that grown ups usually don't play with kids, but she still would've liked to play a game or two with her new friend.

"Say, Maria." The hedgehog said and went to her knees in front of the human girl. The said girl watched with curiosity evident in her eyes.

"You grandfather was wondering if you could give me a tour around the Ark since I've just finished my last fysical examination. So I'm free to wander around now. Mind giving me a tour?" The ebony asked.

Maria's eyes lit up in excited and she knew this meant a yes.

"Hey Abraham! Do you want to come along with the tour?!" Maria yelled over to the boy she had been playing with only a short while ago.

The boy, apparently named Abraham, looked at his friend with uncertainty.

"I don't know, Maria. My dad always tells me not to hang out with... her." Abraham said.

The hedgehog's eyes narrowed just a little bit. She knew Abraham's father, who was the Commander of G.U.N, didn't exactly like her, but she didn't think his father would go as far as to downright forbid his son to even go near her.

"Fine. I'm sure you and Maria can play a little longer as soon as the tour is finished." The hedgehog said. Abraham nodded as he agreed.

"Bye Abraham!" Maria yelled and waved at him in goodbye before running off, taking the hedgehog's hand and dragging her along.

They were already walking for more than an hour.

Maria, who was excited for the tour only a few moments ago, felt like falling down to the ground and refuse to get back up until her feet didn't hurt anymore. Her friend didn't feel any diffirent than her. They knew the Ark was big, but they never would've thought that the Space Colony Ark would be this big.

"I wanna go back to Grandpa." Maria complained softly, more to herself than to anyone else. Her hedgehog friend felt the same. She wouldn't have wanted anything else but to return to that familiar laboratory and curl up underneath that white sheet.

As they walked on, they passed several corridors and rooms, sleeping quarters and laboratories. They passed several people, but they didn't really make the effort to try and talk to any of them.

The people who did talk to them, usually reffered to them as 'Professor Robotnik's Granddaughter' and 'The Cure'. The two and Gerald himself found it odd how they kept reffering to the hedgehog as 'The Cure', but they could understand that the other employees had to call her something since she didn't really get a name when she was 'born'. Although, they were getting used to the odd name.

During the tour, Maria gave as much information as she possibly could, even though she herself only knew a small part of the Ark, despite having lived here all her life. Maybe it was better if they had asked an adult to guide them with the tour.

As they walked, the hedgehog suddenly stopped. Maria didn't notice until she was a few steps further away. She turned towars her friend and watched her in concern. The ebony had a hand against the wall to keep herself up and a hand placed on top of her chest. Her breathing became laboured and her legs were shaking. Unable to keep herself up for much longer, her knees gave in beneath her and she fell to the ground.

Maria jumped back in fright. She didn't know what to do. Her friend collapsed just like that. What could she possibly do to help? Maria looked around frantically, but didn't know who could possibly help her.

The hedgehog squeezed her eyes closed in pain as she suddenly felt this burning sensation in her heart.

'What is this?! Where the hell does it come from?!' She mentally screamed as the feeling began to worsen. Tears grew in her eyes as the pain became to much and her vision began to blur. She hunched over and winced.

"Maria... Get Gerald... Quick." She pleaded before it grew dark in front of her eyes as she fell down to the floor and remained lifeless on the cold steel floor.


	6. Troubles Ahead

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_This story is going on longer than I had expected it to go. XD I had only planned about 3 to 5 chapters._

_I have to admit, I didn't really do my best on this chapter because I had a sudden loss in inspiration and tried really hard to get through it and that might make this chapter seem like there wasn't alot of effort put into it. I promise the next one will be better._

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 6 - Trouble Ahead**

It was dark and quiet inside the room. It was abandoned, except for one person. She was an ebony hedgehog. She laid silently on the metal examination table, the white sheet covering her body as she slept.

The hedgehog moaned in pain. Her eyes squeezed close before she tried to open them. When her eyes opened, she looked around tro try and recognise her current environment. It didn't take her long before she recognised this place as her creator's laboratory.

'Someone must've taken me back here.' The hedgehog though as she closed her eyes again for a few brief moment.

Everything that happened after she had collapsed, was one big black gap in her memory. She didn't know for how much longer she had been on that cold floor. Or if Maria did go back to get to get her grandfather or not.

It didn't really matter to her anymore. She was glad to see she and Maria were going to be alright. Or atleast, that's what she was hoping for.

The hedgehog pushed her up in an upright sitting position and gasped when she felt a bit unwell. She placed a hand on her head and groaned lightly at the headache she was feeling. She wondered what it was that made her faint.

She was just fine one moment and crawling on the floor in pain the next. She wanted to know what that was all about, but she had to wait. Since it was so quiet here in the room and out in the hallway, she could only guess that it was supposed to be in the middle of night. It wouldn't be such a good idea to go wander around and wake the professor up. The best cours of action, she decided, was to stay here and get some more rest.

She sighed and slowly lowered herself back on her 'bed'. She closed her eyes and tried her best to ignore the headache that was pulsating against the inside of her skull.

Finally, after what seemed for an eternity, she fell into a long deep sleep.

It was well in the afternoone when she woke back up the next day.

Gerald was already hard at work. He had been checking his experiment's documents so many times he knew every single little detail like the back of his own hand.

After a while he finally sighed and looked away from the computer screen. It was then that he noticed that he wasn't alone. The elder scientist looked over to the examination table and saw the hedgehog looking back at him.

"You're awake." The man said. She could see by the dark circles beneath her eyes that he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately.

This concerned her greatly, considering his bad health.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Gerald shook his head and shot her a smile, as if telling her that he didn't approve of her question.

"I should be the one to ask you that question." Gerald said and stood up from his chair and walked over to the hedgehog's 'bed'.

"What do you mean? Have you figured out what is wrong with me?" She asked.

Gerald nodded.

"Can you tell me what it is?" She asked carefully. She wanted to know what was going on, but she wasn't so sure if her creator was willing to tell her.

"You're dying." Gerald bluntly said.

Her eyes widened and she felt her heart stop at his words.

Dying? How could this be? She was only a few weeks old.

"W-What do you mean?" The hedgehog asked.

She was still so young. There was still so much to see and discover. She wanted to see and learn so much before she would close her eyes forever.

"Before you woke up, before you were 'born', you spend months sleeping on that table. You were perfect, but you wouldn't even open your eyes." The elderly man said. He wore a sad expression. The light of the computer monitor made him seem older than he actually was.

The hedgehog stayed silent. She knew her creator wasn't done talking yet.

"One day, I recieved a visit of a supernatural being. A creature named Black Doom, who said that he was the leader of an alien race called the Black Arms. He gave me some of his blood and told me to give it to you, so both your and his DNA would mix and allow you to live. But it wasn't for free. He made me promise that, when he returns in fifty years, that you would deliver him the seven Chaos Emeralds. I was desperate to help you, so I agreed." Gerald paused, allowing his project to let this new information sink in.

"You woke up a few hours later. I was so overjoyed, I had almost forgotten about my deal with Black Doom. But when you collapsed yesterday, I knew it had something to do with that alien DNA I had given you. And from the tests I did while you were asleep, I discovered that this alien DNA, had turned against your body." The scientist said.

"So... You mean that..." The hedgehog said. Her gentle voice going soft as she trailed of. She knew what he was trying to say, but she was affraid to say it out loud and confirm her thoughts.

"Yes. It's destroying you from the inside out." He said and looked away. He couldn't bear to look at her now.

"But... Maria." She muttered. Her ears flattened against her skull and she looked down at the white sheet that covered her lap.

"I will need to find another solution for her. You might have everything we need, but we can't risk your health."

"Then do it now!"

Gerald looked back at her, stunned by the sudden ferocity in her usually gentle voice. It sounded demanding, but desperate at the same time.

"Do it now! When I'm still strong enough to handle it. You can take whatever you need and cure her before either one of us gets gets to weak." She said.

"I can't do it. I've worked on your for years. I can't let you go this easily." The elderly man said. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't.

The hedgehog, who had been looking up to the old man when she practically demanded her creator to kill her if that's what he needed to do to save his granddaughter, looked back down and stayed quiet.

"I will go ahead and get you something to eat. I can imagine you must be hungry by now." Gerald said after a while of silence. He walked out of his laboratory and locked the door behind him, leaving his creation alone in the room to cope with the terrible news.

'A year. It's been that long since I woke up. Does that mean I'm one year old?' The hedgehog thought as she stood in front of the mirror in one of the many bathroom quarters littered all across the Space Colony.

She sighed and laid a hand on her left shoulder. That arm had been hurting for days now. She knew where this pain came from. It was because her own tainted DNA had turned against her. Well, the alien part had.

A few months ago, her creator had explained to her that she only got to live with the help of the DNA of this alien leader and that he had gotten his blood in exchange for the seven Chaos Emeralds, seven jewels full of power. He had also told her that her body couldn't accept this new mix and was hurting her body.

That was why her arm had been hurting these past few days.

There would be days in which her body would hurt like hell, but there would also be days in which she could enjoy the hours in silence without any pain whatsoever.

Today, unfortunatly, wasn't one of those days.

She winced as another painful sting shot through her system and tightened her grip. She knew this pain wouldn't last, it always dissapeared after a while, but that didn't mean that she liked going through it.

She turned away from the mirror and leant back against the sink.

Not only was her own body destroying itself, but Maria's disease wasn't getting better because Gerald was affraid to do something wrong.

"There has to be something I can do." She muttered, more to herself then anyone else. There wasn't really anyone else in the bathroom quarters.

A gasp left her lips when an idea popped up in her mind.

'That's it. That has to be the solution to our problem!' The hedgehog thought.

With the idea fresh in mind, she quickly ran out of the bathroom quarters and back to the laboratory.


	7. Solutions

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 7 - Solutions**

The ebony hedgehog ran back to the laboratory as fast as her painful legs could carry her. Her right hand was still on her shoulder as she ran, trying to numb the stinging pain that got harsher with every breath she took.

Her careless running turned against her as she slipped over the steel floor and fell face first onto the ground.

She stayed still for a few moments before she groaned and pushed herself up on her hands and knees, making sure not to put too much pressure on her left hand. Instead, she brought that limb up to her face and rubbed her nose and chin as that had been the place she landed on first.

A chuckle interupted her groaning and she looked behind her to see the G.U.N Commander standing there.

The ebony hedgehog sat down on her knees with her body slightly turned towards him and kept her eyes focused on him.

She never liked him. She could even tell he was bad news when she first saw him when she had just woken up. She didn't know what it was that made her so suspicious of the other, since they rarely saw eachother they didn't anything of one another, but there was just something about him that made the fur on the back of her neck bristle.

"Commander." The words rolled off of her tongue with an obvious mistrustful tone as she acknowledged the older man.

"Lab rat." He returned the 'nice' gesture with the same tone of disdain in his voice.

The said 'lab rat' narrowed her eyes at the nickname he had given her.

"On your way to professor Robotnik's lab, I see." He said.

The hedgehog stayed quiet, she knew he wasn't finished yet. There was always something rude and hurtful he wanted to say.

She felt sorry for Abraham for having such a father. Such a man as a parent would only lead to the child being just as bad in the future.

"Do you have any idea how much money we're wasting just to keep you alive? Heaps of money that could be used to benefit mankind. Money that allows others to find cures for diseases, perhaps even Maria's disease. And it's all wasted on you." The Commander said. A smirk spread on his lips as he saw her ears flatten, knowing that his words had atleast caused a bit of strain in her heart.

'I don't have time for this.' The hedgehog thought as she got up from her kneeling position on the floor and walked away.

"Don't think that this will last. One day you or that mad professor of yours make a grave mistake and that's when you will finally realise that your mere existence was a flaw of it's own." He said.

She fastened her pace, making sure to elave the Commander far behind her as she made her way towards her creator's lab. Much to her relief, it didn't take long for her to arrive.

She pressed the right buttons and opened the door. She walked inside and looked at the desk. Just like she guessed, professore Gerald was sitting at his computer, trying to solve any problems that plagued his current projects and prevented them from reaching the success he had been going for.

"Gerald?" The ebony said softly as she approached him, trying not to startle the poor old man as he was so concentrated on his work.

"Yes." He said with a voice that made it obvious that he didn't like to be disturbed in the middle of all this work.

His creation was a bit taken back, but she easily shrugged it off.

"I met Commander Tower in the hallway. He was talking about making mistakes and that there would be great consequences for us." She said.

"The Commander? I'm sure he was just trying to scare you. That is just one of the things he likes to do." The professor answered, not taking his eyes off of the monitor.

"I guess." She answered, not really convinced that it was just an attempt to scare her.

"Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?" The professor asked.

"Huh? Uh, yes! I think I might know how to cure Maria!" The ebony yelled.

The tapping of fingers against the keyboard stopped before Gerald turned to look at her from over his shoulder.

"Cure Maria? Listen, we've talked about this before. You just got into this world just like Maria. I'm not going to risk losing you to." He answered and went right back typing on his keyboard.

"I'm talking about a way that doesn't involve killing me." She said.

Gerald sighed and stopped typing. He really didn't want to talk about this. Especially when there was still so much work he needed to do. But his experiment just wouldn't let the matter go.

"Than what do you suggest we do?" He asked and turned the desk chair around until he was facing the female hedgehog.

After much hesitating, she finally found the courage to tell him her idea.

"Get me pregnant." She simply said.

The elderly man nearly fell of his chair with a heart attack when she proposed something so insane. He watched her in shock.

"Pregnant? Are you insane?! How is this going to cure Maria without harming you?!" He said and pushed himself up with the help of his desk. It was obvious that he was angry with the idea she had just come up with.

"Well... I wasn't created with the alien DNA, was I? If you get me pregnant with whatever you have left of this Black Doom, the child will be born with the DNA and the cure that Maria needs without dying like I am." She explained.

It seemed to make sense to her, but her creator didn't seem to like the idea at all.

"No! There is no way I will allow such a thing to happen!" The professor said.

"Why not?! This might be the only way to save Maria. Do you really want to miss this opportunity?" She asked.

Gerald just looked at her, not knowing what to respond or even think, other than that she did have a point. What she said made sense and if this really was the only way to save his granddaughter, than wouldn't it be for the best if he atleast tried it out?

"Fine."


	8. Unpleasant Visit

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with the another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 8 - Unpleasant Visit**

The ebony hedgehog pulled a smile on her lips and ran over to the examination table, ignoring the exhaustion in her body and jumped up on top of it.

"Let's begin." She said and watched as Gerald was searching for something in the cabinets and drawers. It had been a year since he had last seen that tube with blood. He couldn't remember where he had last put it.

"Ah, here it is." Gerald said when he stumbled upon the glass tube in one of the many drawers. He was glad to have come across it. He feared that he had gotten rid of it while absentmindedly cleaning his laboratory.

He took it from the drawer and made his way to her side, not bothering to clean the mess he had made while trying to search for it.

"This is it. I hope you're ready for it. There is no turning back anymore once I'm done." He said as he prepared the remaining DNA to be used. The ebony one laid down on the metal table and took deep breaths to try and calm her nerves as she suddenly felt nervous, knowing that she could be pregnant after today.

"Don't worry, I'm ready for it." She lied. She didn't feel ready for it at all. She was still one year old herself. Not to mention that she didn't even know how to take care of a child. But she was desperate to cure Maria. And if this was the only way to save her, than they had to grasp this opportunity with both of their hands.

"Are you sure?" Gerald asked and laid a hand on her shoulder. He didn't want to do it if his creation couldn't handle it.

She nodded and kept her eyes on him. She felt her heart beating against her ribcage at a faster pace. She tried her best to calm herself down, but it just would not work. She decided that the best way was to close her eyes and try to forget that this was about to happen.

A few days passed by.

She was lying on the same table for another test once more. But this test wasn't about her health or the effect Black Doom's blood had on her body.

She was here to see if she was pregnant.

A few days ago, she had allowed, practically forced, her creator to perform an experiment on her that could've ended up impregnating her. Now they needed a test to see if she really was pregnant, or if it was just a waste of time.

The hedgehog felt a bit nervous, but not as much as she did during the experiment. She wouldn't know what to do if it turns out it hadn't worked. Obviously she would try again, but if it had worked, she wouldn't know what to do then either.

This kind of knowledge was something a mobian or even a human needed to learn from their parents while growing up. But she was born as an adult and practically had all the knowledge she needed and still didn't know how to care for somethone younger than her.

Although, she knew Gerald would help her teach all she needed to know. He had promised her once the experiment was finished. He knew that she wouldn't have any knowledge of parenthood, so he would make sure to try to prepare her during her whole pregnancy.

But even with all the reassurement, she still felt nervous about what was to come in nine months.

The ebony hedgehog was snapped out of her train of thoughts when she heard the wheels of the chair roll back as Gerald stood up from behind his desk.

"And?" She said as she pushed herself up in a sitting position.

"You're pregnant." Gerald sighed, as if he was dissapointed and happy at the same time. The mobian didn't know which one of the two emotions fit his expression more. But as the news slowly sunk in, she didn't know which emotion to feel or show either. Should she be happy that she was expecting a child? Should she be honoured that this was the offspring of an alien royal? Or should she be scared because she isn't ready yet?

She didn't know, so all she showed was a neutral expression. One that Gerald had a hard time reading aswell.

"We could've waited." The man said.

"No, we couldn't. It could've already been to late for Maria and my body could've already been to weak." She said. It did made sense to him, but he still thought that waiting would've been better. But, of course, that was something he should've thought about before performing such a risky experiment on his 'daughter'.

Weeks passed and it didn't take long before everyone onboard the whole Space Colony Ark knew off 'The Cure's' pregnancy. It was only natural that something like this big would draw alot of attention. And, of course, the Commander couldn't stay out of this either.

The ebony was lying on her 'bed', resting as the pains that often bothered her had worsened and forced her to rest more than usual. She was all alone here. Gerald was off to a meeting with other scientists about something called the 'Eclipse Cannon'. It seemed important, so she decided to give him some space and try to get some rest at his lab.

Little did she know that another human being had other plans for her.

The door suddenly opened, startling the hedgehog as she knew Gerald couldn't have been back yet. She pushed herself up while minding the small, practically unnoticable, bump that had been growing on her lower belly.

As the steel door opened, it revealed the always cold and intimidating posture of the Commander of the G.U.N military base. Her ears bent back and a small growl resonated from the back of her throat. She had never trusted this man, but her instincts had intensified tenfold ever since she had gotten pregnant.

He chuckled in amusement at her reaction.

"So it's true. The professor really was crazy enough to do something as insane as getting you pregnant." Tower said.

She didn't answer. She just kept growling.

"I wonder what it will turn out to be. Never has an experiment been succesfully impregnated before. Will it even be alive? And just how many birth defects can this thing have? Well, I never would've imagened you and the professor to be this cruel. Slightly insane? Yes. But as cruel as to let something live a life ful of pain and misery just to fulfill your selfish needs? That even goes far beyond me expectations of the two of you." He said. That amused smirk never leaving his facial features.

Her growl got a bit louder. She hadn't thought of the possible death or even malformation this child could suffer from. And the fact that it was the Commander who brought it up, made her incredibly annoyed.

"It won't. I'm certain that it will be just fine." She answered. She knew she sounded incredibly naïve, but that was the way she felt.

"Of course you will believe something so naïve. I wouldn't expect anything else from you." He said. Afterwards he turned and left. Just like that. Without saying another word.

She sighed in exhaustion and laid back down. This little 'conversation' with Commander Tower had made her tired. She was already tired before he came and his visit had exhausted her even more.

She moved onto her side and curled up the best she could while being careful not to hurt a certain someone and quickly fell back asleep.


	9. Long, Healthy and Happy

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_Meh, finally realised there was a 'the' before 'another' in the sentence above. I hadn't realised it with my previous chapters._

_I would like to thank 'TheVideoGamer' for reviewing. ^^_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 9 - Long, Healthy and Happy**

After the Commander had left, the pregnant hedgehog tried her best to get as much rest as possible, despite his words haunting her mind.

His unpleasant visit was a month ago.

She was three months far now and it showed. She had a small bump on her lower belly now. It was easily to hide when she wore that old hospital robe, but once it was off, not even her fur could hide it.

She was walking around the Ark again. She did this often when Gerald was working on something, when Maria was busy playing with her friend and when she had nothing better to do herself. She had to keep herself busy somehow, so why not take a small walk?

She came across quite a few doors, but she never really felt the need to open any of them, unless it was to get to the next hallway, of course. But when she came across a door in the middle of the hallway, she suddenly had the strange urge to open it, like she was curious to find out what was behind it.

She came to a halt in front of it and looked at it for a few moments, as if expecting something to happen. She then typed the code into the numeric keypad and the door opened. It wasn't so hard knowing what code opened which door. Private laboratories and living quarters, like Gerald's, needed a password of the owner's choice. Main hallways, bathroom quarters, etc... had one and the same password everybody knew. She only knew the main one and the one to her creator's lab.

When the door opened, it revealed a spacious, empty room. The room had a large window with a wonderful view on space and the planet Mobius.

The hedgehog walked inside. She kept her eyes on the window as she got closer. It was like she was in some sort of trance, not able to take her eyes off of the glass. She reached it and placed her hand on the cold glass. Her eyes making contact with the planet.

She was speechless. She had never seen anything this beautiful before.

'This the planet Mobius?' She wondered mentally. She didn't know for sure, but it had to be since she didn't see anything else except for the Sun. So it must be. She had heard people talk countless of times about the planet. But never would she have imagined it to be this beautiful. This magnificent.

She felt a longing rise up in her heart as she watched the blue planet with curiosity and fascination. She yearned to visit it and discover all the secrets it had to offer. But that was impossible, because she was stuck up here, miles and miles into outer space.

"It's beautiful." She thought out loud. Her eyes were glazed over. The sight of the planet was almost hypnotising. She couldn't take her eyes off of it.

She placed a hand on her belly as she thought, wondered if she would ever get to see it up close. Or if the child ever got to see it up close.

The hedgehog shook her head to get rid of the somber thought. Of course it would get to see the world down below. Its body wouldn't be as weak as hers. It would live long enough to get down there and have a long and healthy live of its own. And happy. She wanted it to live a happy life aswell.

Long. Healthy. Happy.

Three things that her life was not.

She sighed and left the room.

Once the child was here, she would make sure to show it this room. So if he or she didn't get to see the world, it's mother would make sure it atleast caught a small glimpse of it.

Being pregnant was a huge pain. And not only because of the basic inconveniences it brought.

The hedgehog winced, squeezed her eyes closed and clenched her teeth onto eachother as another painful cramp erupted through her body. She was on her knees, hunched over with her arms around her belly in the hopes of making it stop.

She wasn't straining herself. She was just taking an innocent walk when the pain suddenly struck. This pain was like the pain before, the one she felt when her body was rejecting itself. This was no diffirent. Only this time, her body was trying to reject the child that grew inside of her.

Whenever her stomache started to cramp, the pain she felt in her heart was greater and hurted her more than any fysical pain she had experienced in her short life. The thought of her own body trying to get rid of this new life when it actually needed to protect it and nurture it until it was ready to come was sickening her. But there was nothing she could do other than rest as much as possible.

Only Gerald managed to ease her troubled mind and heart time and time again. With every check up he did on her, he could tell her with a smile that he/she was just fine. That he/she was strong, much stronger than it's mother, and was untouched by the mother's body's cruel and selfish intentions to save itself.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the cramp numbed and thereafter faded away. Her body relaxed and leant back against the steel wall. Her eyes were still closed as she took the time to recover.

After a while her eye lids fluttered open and she looked around, trying to recognize her surroundings. She was in another one of the many long steel hallways aboard the Space Colony.

She suddenly remembered that she was in the middle of her journey towards the laboratory she was created in. Gerald had asked her to come today for another check up and she was on the way here when that cramp came out of nowhere and knocked the breath out of her lungs.

She pushed herself back up with great difficulty and sought support against the wall. Her hand was placed on her belly, stroking it in a comforting manner. Two months had passed since she had found that room with the magnificent view on the planet Mobius and she was now close to being five months far. She was in the last week of her fourth month.

That was another reason why Gerald wanted her to come.

The fourth and fifth month was usually the time in which the baby would start moving and kicking. That was something she hadn't felt yet and, even though the baby still had one month before they would need to be alarmed, they wanted to make sure everything was okay.

The hedgehog whispered comforting nonsense to her child, making sure that it wouldn't feel troubled by the pain they had most likely both felt.

It was then that she felt it.

A soft but noticeable thump from inside of her belly.

She froze. Her mind racing over countless of possible answers, but only found one.

Her pup had finally kicked. It had finally let it's presence known.

She looked down at the bump that had grown quite a bit during these past two months and smiled. She fell to her knees again and wrapped her arms around her stomache. Tears of happiness fell down her cheeks as the confirmation of a new life made her feel less lonely.

Long. Healthy. Happy.

Her life wouldn't long. And it certainly wouldn't be healthy either.

But now, even if it was just for a moment, she was happy.


	10. It's Time

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_Just two or three more chapter, after that the story is, sadly, finished._

_I would like to thank 'TheVideoGamer' for reviewing. I really appreciate it. ^^_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 10 - It's Time**

It seemed like time flew by after the pup had started to kick. It didn't matter how much pain she went through, the soft subtle kicks against the walls of her womb made going through the pain worthwhile.

The months passed and as soon as she got into her seventh month, her health went completely downhill.

She laid on the examination table. Her eyes were closed as she was getting some rest after she had collapsed once more. Her chest rose with every slow breath she took.

Gerald approached the 'bed' and laid a hand on his creation's belly, feeling the unborn child kick against the palm of his hand made him smile lightly. The feeling of the child was his only comfort when his youngest 'daughter' was out cold after another collapse.

The hedgehog moaned in pain when she slowly woke up. Her eyes lids slowly parted and allowed her to look around in the dimly lit room.

"Gerald?" She said as she quickly recognized the elderly man as her creator.

The said creator shot her light smile. His hand didn't leave her belly.

"What happened?" She asked. Her voice sounded weak and faint, her eyes could stay barely open.

"You collapsed again. You have been out ever since yesterday afternoon." He explained.

"That long? Is he okay?" The hedgehog asked.

"He?" Gerald asked in confusion, although, he had a pretty good idea as to who this 'he' was.

"The baby." She answered and laid one of her hands on her belly aswell. Her lips curled up into a vain smile when she felt soft and careful kicks against her hand, as if the pup itself knew that it's mother was in pain and that it needed to be careful.

The hedgehog sighed and closed her eyes again.

"So tired." She moaned.

"That might be because you still need more rest. If I were you, I would do what's right and get some more sleep before taking one of your walks again." Gerald advised. His creation decided that it was best not to go against it and used her tired arms to push herself up on her right side. A deep sigh left her tired lungs before she quietly fell back asleep.

Another two months had passed. The hedgehog was now nine months far. Her child was almost due. And it was taking a toll on her body.

The ebony hedgehog had been sleeping on her 'bed', trying to get some rest. When she woke up, she looked around, trying to see if Gerald was near and saw the elderly man snoring in his desk chair. With the extra time on his hands, he must've decided that a little shut-eye wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The ebony pushed her tired upper body up until she was in a sitting position and swung her legs over the edge. She glanced back at the sleeping man for a moment or two before she carefully lowered herself on the floor, making sure to be as quiet as possible so she wouldn't wake her creator up.

She was thankful that this thing she called her bed didn't have any wheels on it. If it had, it might've slipped and make her fall. That was not something she wanted to do. Especially not in this condition.

She felt reliefed when she got on the ground safe and sound and silently made her way out of the laboratory, the door automatically closing behind her. She looked around the hallway and noticed that it was dark. That could only mean that it was supposed to be night here aboard the Colony.

The scientists and soldiers were already asleep. The many hallway and rooms were abandoned since everyone had retreated back to their sleeping quarters. The hedgehog was the only one awake at this time of the night.

She knew that it was probably not such a good idea to go walking around when you had the possibility to collapse at any moment and there was no one around to help you, but she couldn't sit still for too long. Her body needed to move. If she sat still for too long, that might have some consequences and that was another thing she couldn't afford.

She didn't plan on taking a long walk, so she was only gone for about twenty to thirty minutes before she returned back to her creator's laboratory.

When she did, she had to lean against the door frame in surprise when she was caught off guard by a sudden stinging pain in her lower belly.

"Wha...What was that?" She asked herself out loud and looked down at her swollen stomache. Her hand stroked it as she wondered what it could be. The stinging wasn't really all that painful, but it sure was uncomfortable.

The ebony hedgehog decided to ignore it for now as it faded away, but once she felt it again when she approached her bed, she figured that it would be best to worry about it.

She winced lightly when she felt another sting. The more she felt, sooner and all the more painful they came.

She walked over to Gerald and gentle shook his shoulder. The man woke up with a dissaproving groan and looked up to his experiment.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" The elderly scientists asked and straightened himself in his chair. When she wanted to tell him what was wrong, she winced again, he was immediately fully awake and pushed himself up. He didn't need her to tell him to know what was wrong.

"It's time." He said and dragged her over to the examination table.

"Time? But I'm not supposed to be due in another week." She said and began to pant lightly as the pain got worse.

Gerald knew he should've been concerned about how much faster and painful the contractions came, but he couldn't bring himself to. He didn't know how Black Arms pregnancies worked. His experiment and her child were both part alien, for all he knew this was completely normal amongst their kind.

The hedgehog winced and clenched her teeth. She hunched over and squeezed her eyes closed. Another contraction had hit her and this time it was on full force.

"I thought it wasn't supposed to go this quick." She breathed and held herself up with the metal table.

"Get up." Gerald ordered and helped his experiment up on the metal piece of furniture.

The hedgehog rested her body flat on top of it and dropped her head on the soft pillow. She panted and allowed herself to rest when the contraction passed.

Her legs pressed tightly against eachother and her head reeled back when another contraction came. She felt a bit of the pressure leave when her bed became wet beneath her. She sighed in relief when a bit of the pressure on her womb left, but soon looked up to her creator with an apologetic look.

"It's fine. You're losing the amniotic fluid. Don't worry, it's completely normal." Gerald explained while searching for all that he needed to bring this child into the world.

As another contraction came, she clenched her teeth and eye lids closed and whined lightly from the pain. She was to focused on her pain and Gerald was to focused on getting the right items, neither of the two noticed the door open as a third presence made itself known.

The hedgehog gasped in surprise when she felt a small hand take hers. She looked down and saw the familiar face Maria standing next to her. She wore a concerned expression on her and knowing that her friend was in pain, she took her hand to try and comfort her aswell as encourage her.

"Maria." The hedgehog breathed.

The girl had a light pout. If she were a mobian, her ears would definitely be glued flat against her skull with her tail between her legs.

The ebony smiled down at the five year old girl and squeezed her hand a little, a small appreciating gesture that the young girl seemed to understand.

When Gerald noticed her arrival, he didn't question it too much. Right now he had to focus on his creation. He could demand for answers from his granddaughter later.

Contraction after contraction came. The urge to push suddenly came, but the project tried her best to keep her body from giving in to it. If it was too early, she didn't want to start pushing already and hurt the child in the process. She decided it was safer to wait until her creator told her to push.

She whined because of the cramp and the urge, but refused to give in.

"What's happening, grandpa?" Maria asked, her eyes filled with tears as it was obvious to her that her friend was suffering.

"Don't worry, your friend will be just fine. Maria, I think it's best if you wait outside." Gerald said.

"No, I want to stay. I can't leave!" The blonde girl said. Gerald sighed, knowing that he couldn't waste his time agruing with his granddaughter.

The elderly man went to one side of the table and told her to seperate her legs. His creation obeyed without any complaint. She whined lightly as the urge came and looked at her creator. The pain was evident in her eyes. The scientist nodded and the hedgehog began to push.


	11. The Mother

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 11 - The Mother**

Like her creator had commanded, she began to push with all the strength she possessed. She only allowed her body to rest whenever her creator told her to. And when he told her to push again, she complied.

She held her breath and whined lightly as she pushed. She was in terrible pain, but that didn't stop her. She wasn't going to give in until this child was finally here. She pushed and pushed, there didn't seem to be an end to this.

She groaned and panted. She was exhausted and her body hurt all over the place. She wanted nothing more then to rest, but she knew this couldn't do it. Not now.

She yelped when another contraction came and pushed. She could something move inside of her. Every single time she pushed, she had that strange feeling. A feeling that made her feel even more pain through her fragile body.

It was coming. She could feel it. It was almost here.

"Just one more push." Gerald informed her. He had been supervising his creation's delivery, helping her along and telling her what to do and when to do it.

He saw that the head was out and that meant only one more push was needed to get the rest of the body out.

"One more push." He repeated. The fact was a comfort to not only his 'daughter', but also to himself. Seeing her in this much pain, was also hurting himself.

After what seemed like forever, but were only about an hour or two, a loud cry was heard through the laboratorium.

A smile graced the ebony's lips as she watched her creator stand up straight, holding something wrapped in a white sheet. It seemed to be the source of the crying. Gerald handed the bundle over to her and she took it in her arms.

The ebony's smile widened and tears of happiness streamed down her face as she held her child in her arms. The sheet covered being was still wet and it's fur drenched in blood, but it was the most beautiful being she had ever seen.

"Hey there. I'm your mommy." She managed to say. Her exhaustion was immediately forgotten as soon as this bundle had been placed in her arms. She was now only focused on the child.

She softly pushed the blanket a bit more out of the way. She could hardly make out what it looked like with all the blood, but she could tell what gender it was.

It was a boy. Just like she had predicted.

"A boy." She said. Her smile never fading. Gerald smiled at the sight and Maria was trying to sneak a peek at the newborn. Her short height didn't allow her to see anything.

"How about I clean him up a little?" The scientist proposed.

He felt so happy. It was like becoming a grandfather all over again.

Instead of answering, the ebony hedgehog simply handed the child over to him. Gerald carefully took the boy in his arms and took it over to a diffirent room, a room that was connected to the lab. It didn't serve all that much purpose. Well, not if any work was being done in the lab itself.

It only contained a counter with a sink. Next to it, the counter was filled with soaps and disinfectants. A box with plastic gloves also stood on top of it. Whenever The elderly scientist needed to work on something that had something to do with bacteria, he made sure to wash and disinfect his hands. But today, the room had a different purpose.

Gerald walked in the room with the newborn in his hands and wasted no time to go ahead and clean the child up. The boy complained at first as he wanted to feel the warmth of who he was sure was his mother, but he quieted down when the warmth of the water embraced him.

The last time he had been this warm was inside his mother's womb. So when he was taken out of the water once he was clean, he began to cry in shock again. The air that wrapped him in a cold embrace was scaring him to death.

"Don't you worry. You will be with mother soon enough." The proud grandparent said and wrapped the child in a towel and walked back into the lab. He walked over to his project and handed her the child again.

The pup almost immediately curled up against her chest.

"He's beautiful." She sniffed.

Now that he was clean, she could see much more of his fur.

Just like her, his fur was ebony black and his muzzle and the inside of his ears were tan. But there were other diffirences between the two of them other than his gender. His upturned quills had crimson red streaks on them. And so did both of his arms and legs.

"What's his name?" Maria asked. She had pulled up a chair and used it to climb up on the examination table so she could finally see what the newest member of their family looked like. Gerald was now sitting on that very same chair his granddaughter had used. After standing for so long, he was glad he could take a seat and watched the trio in front of him with pride.

"Hmmm." The ebony hedgehog hummed as she was deep in thought. He needed a name that suited him.

"Shadow."

Gerald and Maria looked at her.

"Shadow will be his name." She said, her hand lightly stroked her son's quills as he slept.

"It suits him." Gerald said in approval. Maria seemed to approve of the name aswell.

"Shadow." His mother softly repeated in a whisper. She held him close against her chest, her cheek touched the top of his head and she closed her eyes. All she wanted to do was to enjoy this peaceful moment of happiness for as long as it would last.

Shadow slept silently next to his mother while was asleep herself. The new mother was curled up around her pup, while her pup was curled up against her chest. The blonde girl, Maria, had snuggled up to them aswell while Gerald had reclined into his desk chair.

The four of them were tired beyond believe. Especially the duo of hedgehogs. Both mother and son went through alot these past few hours. They deserved a little bit of rest.

They were so deep in their slumber, they almost didn't notice the door sliding open on it's own.

The figure of a human being walked into the room. He approached the bed and furrowed his brows in anger when he noticed the small pup sleeping his mother's arms.

The mother's new instincts seemed to feel the angry eyes glaring at her and her child. She even woke up from the feeling.

Her eyes opened and looked up to the figure. Almost immediately, a loud threatening growl resonated from the back of her throat. Her child heard the growl and somehow knew that it meant that trouble was around. So he whined a little and tried to hide himself.

The loud growling roused the two other humans beings up. Maria jumped when she noticed the man standing there out of nowhere. And Gerald watched him with an equally deadly glare.

"Commander." The scientist said and pushed himself up from his chair, so he stood at an eye-level with the other man.

"Robotnik." The Commander answered. Disdain laced his voice.

The motherly hedgehog kept growling at him. Her ears were pinned back and she was showing her teeth like an animal feeling threatened would do. She looked like a typical mobian when furious about something.

"I see that the new project is here." The Commander said.

"He is not a project. And neither is his mother." Gerald protested. Even if their original plan was to use them to try and get a cure, once all of that was done and over with, Gerald was going to make sure that his two hedgehogs and granddaughter got the life they deserved.

The Commander narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the tone the professor used against him.

"Don't forget who funds all of your useless experiments. If this new project will fail like it's previous version, then I will make sure that someone more capable takes the 'Ultimate Lifeform' project over. Maybe then some actual use will come from these two." The man said and turned around to walk out of the room.

His only purpose of being in this room was to see if professor Gerald had something to do with the lights still being on after the hedgehog's little walk. When he arrived, he was surprised to see that the useless project had already birthed her alien/hedgehog spawn from hell.

"You won't touch him. I won't allow it." The mother growled. She was angry that this hotshot military officer thought he could just take her child away and do with him whatever he liked.

"Hmpf. We'll see." The Commander said, not even bothering to look back and walked out of the room. He left a nasty atmosphere in the room. One that made the little girl and the pup cower and angered the two adults.


	12. The Beating Of Her Heart

_Hi there! AHeartForStories here with another chapter of 'Mother'!_

_I would like to thank 'lilysash97', 'TheVideoGamer' and 'LiveOnShadow' for rewieving. ^^_

_I'm going to have it a bit busy this week. We need to work at a daycare or a nursing home for school. I'm working at a daycare and, I'm not gonna lie, it's quite exhausting. XD_

_Of course, that doesn't mean I won't update the story. Otherwise I wouldn't be uploading this chapter either. XD_

_I would really appreciate to recieve reviews and read about your oppinion of this story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it!_

**Mother: Chapter 12 - The Beating Of Her Heart**

"Are you alright?" Gerald asked his older creation and sat back down on his chair. The hedgehog in question sat up and held the infant against her chest. Maria was sitting on her lap, watching the pup with curiosity.

"We're just fine." The hedgehog answered. Her eyes were glued to the bundle in her arms. The infant was sleeping again, curled up against his mother as he slept peacefully, despite the Commander's visit scaring him half to death.

"Good." The scientist muttered and rubbed the back of his neck. It felt stiff as he had not been sleeping in a comfortable position lately.

"Is the Commander really planning on using Shadow?" The hedgehog asked after a few hours had passed.

During those hours, Gerald had left together with Maria and put the girl to sleep in her bed before going to his own. In the meantime, mother and child both got some more sleep themselves.

Gerald had returned a few hours later and was working on one of his project again.

"The Commander is a very unpredictable man. But I'm sure that is what he was implying." The scientist answered.

The ebony hedgehog's ears flattened as she looked back down at the pup.

Gerald took his eyes off of his work for a moment and let them rest on his creation. He could see that she was worried for her son. Even though she had promised that Commander she would make sure he would never get his hands on her son, all of them knew that promise could never be fulfilled. Her body was weak. What was she to begin to a military officer?

The elderly man sighed. He hated seeing her so down.

He walked up to the examination table and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her take her eyes off of her son and letting them settle on her creator.

"Don't worry about Shadow. I will do everything in my power to make sure that he won't get his hands on him." He promised her. Even though he wasn't sure if he could even fulfill it himself.

The creation smiled up to him for a moment before looking back down at Shadow.

The child was awake. He wasn't saying anything. He was still trying to get used to the world around him, looking around with curiosity.

Shadow didn't have a care in the world.

The mother and grandfather wouldn't want anything more than to keep it that way. But unfortunatly that was impossible. Every child started to worry and care for something or someone at some point in their lives. There was no way to prevent it from coming. Just like their parents couldn't prevent it for them.

It had been several months since the little hedgehog came into her life. Her son was even close to year now. His first birthday was only two months away. She couldn't believe how fast time had passed, even though the much smaller hedgehog brought alot of troubles and worries with him.

It was dark in the laboratorium as it was late at night. The two hedgehogs were the only ones around as their creator was asleep and the now 6 years old girl was also in her bed.

The two of them should be asleep aswell, but the pup had a hard time dozing off as he wanted to do something other than sleeping. His mother knew that, if she ever wanted him to get some sleep, she would need to come up with something to make him give in.

A lullaby usually did the trick.

It was a simple song she came up with. There were no words. Just a calm humming that lulled the pup to sleep as he laid in her arms, curled up against her chest. Along with the lullaby, he could hear the beating of her heart. A comforting sound he was familiar with ever since he had developed the ability to hear inside his mother's womb.

It was a sound he loved. One that he could listen to forever and felt safe with. It calmed him down and helped him to fall asleep.

As the lullaby slowly came to an end and the last note was sung, the small pup was already in a deep slumber. Dreaming about the song and the events of that day.

Shadow's mother smiled when she saw that he was asleep and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before lying down and falling asleep herself.

Every single night she would repeat the same process over and over again. Every night she would sing that lullaby as he laid there against her chest, listening to the beating of his mother's heart.

It was repetitive course. But neither one of the two would ever want to change it.

Even as the boy got older and slowly drifted away from her as he wanted to do everything himself. Wanted to learn everything. Wanted to learn how to be independent. The process, though it changed over the years, was always there.

As the humming got softer, so did a, now 3 year old, hedgehog's sobs aswell.

Shadow was sitting in his mother's lap. His head buried in her chest that was still covered by that old hospital robe and her arms wrapped around him in a warm embrace. The tears that had been streaming down his face, were slowly drying up.

The ebony's eyes opened and looked up to the hedgehog that was only two years older then himself, despite the adult look.

"Are you okay now?" His mother asked. Shadow nodded and let his head rest against her chest again.

He had a terrible nightmare that woke him up in the middle of the night. A nightmare so tense that he woke up, covered in sweat and crying hystericly. Even though he could hardly remember what it was about.

His mother woke up aswell and was quick to comfort him with the sound of her voice and a loving hug. It was something that could calm any child after having such a terrible dream. Something that any mother or father would do.

The hedgehog's ears perked when she heard soft snores coming from her son. She looked down at him and noticed that he had fallen asleep. She smiled at her son. She placed a soft kiss on his forehead and let him sleep.


End file.
